Instagram Pick of the Week | Shane Berkery
We love Instagram! Why? Because it gives you access to tonnes of visual art at your finger tips! Follow @thisheadstuff to stay up to date with our finds on our favourite app!
Every week HeadStuff’s Visual Arts Editor will feature posts from their favourite artists on Instagram. So add the hashtag #thisheadstuff to be featured!
Up this week is Shane Berkery aka @shaneberkery, a full-time painter since graduating from NCAD in 2015 who is now represented by the Chimera Gallery. He has lived in America and Japan but has been based in Dublin for the last 10 years. “I spend the majority of my waking hours painting with the hope of mastering the art of painting in a way that hasn’t really been done before,” he explains. “I want to be a big deal.”
What is Instagram for you?
It’s the new age tool for shameless self promotion, for artists I think it’s a great way to try extend the reach of their work and maybe even open doors to new opportunities. It’s also great for scrolling through all the different images people want to show the world when you are idle or bored.
Why/when did you decide to start sharing your work on there?
I’ve had it for about 3 years now but I properly started using it around Christmas last year after hearing from a friend, who’s also a painter, that she’s been getting invitations to show her work internationally by some of her followers. I’m hoping that my following will go up enough to get similar results.
How would you describe your style?
Maybe quite figurative and somewhat abstract? My subject is almost always people or to do with the human figure and mastering the craft of rendering reality is a major drive in my work. At the same time I like simplicity and directness and want to develop my painting language on the side of colour and shape relations, so my work ends up being a mix of it all.
What materials do you use?
I almost exclusively use oil paints on canvas and sometimes bits of charcoal and pastels.
Who has been or currently is an influence on you?
I like painters like Wilhelm Sasnal, Magnus Plessen, Friedrich Einhoff, Marlene Dumas and Bacon, but I try not to be too influenced by them.
What are your must-follow accounts on Instagram?
Maybe… @yungjake @thenotoriousmma @olavmathisenart @sommerray
What’s the best hashtag going and why?
I’m not sure what’s going on with hastags but I always use the boring #contemporarypainting
